2023 U.S. Trials Day 1 Prelims Preview: Dressel Back on the Big Stage

2023 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 27 – July 1, 2023
• Indiana University Natatorium,  Indianapolis, IN
• LCM (50m)
• Prelims start at 10AM Eastern Time/Finals start at 7PM Eastern Time
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet (pre-scratch)
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Day 1 Prelims Live Stream

TUESDAY PRELIMS HEAT SHEET

Tuesday Prelims Scratch Report

The first session of the 2023 U.S. National Championships is here! As we patiently await the official kick-off of the action, let’s go over the events in Tuesday morning’s prelims session. It’s a very slim day event-wise, as the 200 fly and 100 free are the only prelim/final events of the day. The women’s 800 free and men’s 1500 free will also be competed as timed finals events, starting this afternoon in a separate distance session, and concluding tonight with the fastest heat of each event racing during the finals session.

Day 1 Events:

• Women’s 200 fly (10:00AM)
• Men’s 200 fly (10:21 AM)
• Women’s 100 free (10:38 AM)
• Men’s 100 free (10:54 AM)
• Women’s 800 free/Men’s 1500 free (early heats – 3:29 PM)

Of course, if we’re talking about excitement and international roster selection craziness, the 100 free has it in spades. There is a lot of selection that goes on in the 100 and 200 freestyles, considering two individual spots for World Champs are up for grabs, as well as four additional roster spots for the 4×100 free relays at Worlds. Beyond that, they’re also selection events for World Juniors, Pan Ams, and the U23 LEN meet. Due to the large amount of roster spots that will be selected out of the 100 free, it’s no surprise we saw a few people scratch out of other events today to focus on it.

The women’s 100 free could be a bloodbath this morning, as the U.S. has been hurting for more 52 and low-53 swimmers in the event for a few years now. Torri Huske is the only swimmer in the field this morning entered under 53 seconds, coming in as the top seed with a 52.92. Abbey Weitzeil isn’t far behind, coming in as the seconds seed with a 53.26. Outside of those two, there are only five other swimmers seeded under 54 seconds, none of whom are faster than 53.5. However, those five swimmers are Claire Curzan, Kate Douglass, Erika Brown, Gretchen Walsh, and Natalie Hinds, any of whom could pop off in the event.

With the event being so thin at the top, the women’s 100 free prelims this morning present a great opportunity for some swimmers who are seeded with 54, or even 55-points, to breakout with a great morning swim and make it into that ‘A’ final for tonight. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to see someone seeded well outside the top eight sneak into the ‘A’ final with a lifetime best performance this morning, which will make for an exciting prelims.

The men’s 100 free has a similar dynamic to the women’s event, but there are more veterans in the field. Caeleb Dressel comes in as the top seed in the event with a 47.67, though he’s only been 49.80 so far this year since returning to the sport, so it’s unclear how close to his best he’ll be. Nonetheless, Dressel still stands an excellent chance at advancing to the ‘A’ final tonight and should be viewed as a top contender at least for a relay spot on the Worlds roster in the event.

Ryan Held comes in as the second seed in the event, entering with a 47.85 as his seed. He narrowly leads Brooks Curry, who comes in as the third seed at 47.90. Dressel, Held, and Curry are the only swimmers in the field seeded under 48 seconds. There are almost too many swimmers to name here who could be live for that ‘A’ final tonight. Drew Kibler is a particularly interesting one to keep an eye on. Kibler is the fifth seed heading into this morning, coming in with a 48.25. He made the decision to move back home to Indianapolis to train with his home team, Carmel Swim Club, after graduating from Texas last year. We saw his former teammate, Wyatt Davis, do the same thing for a while last year, and that worked out well for Davis, as he popped off lifetime bests in a number of LCM events while training at Carmel, so we’ll see how Kibler fares.

The women’s 200 fly is another very interesting event, headlined by Arizona State pro group training partners Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger. Smith made waves recently when she roared to a new career best of 2:03.87 in the event, setting a new American Record in the process. That makes her the top seed by over two seconds, with Flickinger coming in as the #2 with a 2:05.90. Notably, Flickinger holds the U.S. Nationals meet record in the event with a 2:05.85, which she swam at the Olympic Trials in 2021. The pair won’t be racing each other this morning, as they’ll be in separate heats, however, we can reasonably predict they’ll both advance to tonight’s ‘A’ final.

Behind them is a deep field, featuring eight more swimmers who are seeded under 2:10. Among that group is another Arizona State swimmer, Lindsay Looney, who is the fourth seed in the event with a 2:07.25.

The men’s 200 fly will mark Carson Foster‘s debut at this meet. Many in the swimming community have high hopes for Foster’s fortunes at this meet, since he’s been turning out some fantastic times in a number of events so far this year. He’s the top seed in the men’s 200 fly, coming in with a 1:53.67, which leads second-seeded Trenton Julian (1:54.22) by over half a second. Gabriel Jett is very close behind, entering as the third seed with a 1:54.37. The men’s 200 fly is a particularly interesting event now that Hungary’s Kristof Milak has announced he won’t be competing at the World Championships this summer. His absence turns the men’s 200 fly into a suddenly wide-open event. Whichever two Americans end up making the Worlds team in the event will now have a very real shot at gold, which if we’re being honest, wasn’t really the case the Milak in the picture.

The depth in the men’s 200 fly today extends well beyond just Foster, Julian, and Jett. Zach Harting and Aaron Shackell are both seeded at 1:55s, while Chase Kalisz is the sixth seed with a 1:56.03, and has the advantage of 200 fly guru Bob Bowman being his coach.